AN: lol 0 love for this story. Won't stop me though!
No matter how many drop ships he rode in, John would never get used to the fact that he was possibly riding to his own death. Granted he had his weapons with him which with some help from lady luck and some skill of his own was supposed to ward him from death. But it still unsettled him having to sit and wait patiently for the ride that would take him to the battlefield that may be his last.
For a man waiting for his death sentence to be executed, at least there is no doubt, no hope for an alternative solution to his problem. He knew he was a dead man walking. For a soldier, survival is not absolutely out of the question. No matter how bad of a shit storm they rode into, someone always makes it out to tell the story most the time. You simply didn't know if you might be that one person who gets to walk away at the end of the mission or not.
John had sat through his share of missions, and had survived against the odds unlike a lot of his comrades. Staring at the people sharing the shuttle with him, he couldn't help but wonder if all of them were going to make it back from this ride to the Mars archives. Sure it was supposed to be a simple milk run, drop in, grab the data and Liara and get the hell out before the reapers caught wind of it. But things are never that simple in real life.
Ashley sat across from him, and equally grim expression mirrored on her face. John ideally wondered if she was thinking the same thing he was. Would this be her last battle? His?
The jolting shuttle which had been buffeted by Mars's heavy winds landed with a dull thump, jolting the commander from his thoughts.
"Still no contact from the base, but we got a massive storm headed our way." Lieutenant James Vega was a solid man who was built like a krogan. John's time spent under house arrest had been made easier with the presence of the LT even if technically he had been a guard.
Securing his own helmet, John nodded at Ashley who was doing the same. "How long until it hits?"
"Half hour tops," replied James grimly. "After that we're going to have difficulties keeping up comms with the Normandy."
"Understood. I want us in and out. We secure Liara and whatever data she has and hightail it back to the Normandy."
Opening the Kodiak shuttle's door with a swipe of his hands, John unholstered the avengers assault rifle from its place on his back. Mars was a barren wasteland, an ocean of red mineral that had not seen life before humanity's arrival since the prothean's themselves had set up the archives. In the distance John could make out the massive cloud that rolled forward like a living being trying to consume everything in its path.
"Man that's a huge storm," whispered the Lieutenant in awe as the three man team moved forward past the solar panel array. "Looks a lot bigger in person."
"Come on Lieutenant, it's not that bad," said Ashley as they came up to the edge of the small overpass they had landed on.
"Doesn't mean it can't kill us," James replied.
"I'm more worried about the war back on Earth. Or the fact that nobody here is reporting in," Ashley rebutted.
"Fair enough."
Ignoring his teams chatter, John leapt off the small five foot drop and landed with a grunt. Straightening up, he frowned as he spotted the slumped form of a dead alliance marine laying next to a storage platform full of boxed equipment.
"Eyes up marines, looks like we might have company," John warned.
The Lieutenant and Lieutenant Commander acknowledged his orders as they made the short drop down next to the Commander. James had his shotgun out and was facing the area behind where Shepard was facing while Ashley walked up and began to use her omnitool to scan for identification on the dead soldier.
"Sargent Reaves," she intoned without emotion. "Looks like he was shot in the back of the head, execution style. The wound is consistent with a high caliber round fired from a rifle, and from the looks of it a single shot. Mattock maybe."
"Only one group I know that uses Mattock's consistently," growled John with fire in his eyes. "Looks like we might be dealing with Cerberus."
Ashley turned quickly at the mention of the terrorist group.
"Cerberus? What would they be doing here on Mars?" she asked suspicion evident in her tone.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's not good. If it is Cerberus, that means we're facing shielded shock troopers, not mindless reaper husks. James, I want you switched over to your assault rifle; you and I will strip down any shielded enemy we run across. Ash, you still favor the sniper rifle?"
Seeing his old teammate nod, John continued. "You'll be tasked with taking down the unshielded targets while James and I run interference for you. Anyone have any disruptor ammo mods?"
Seeing Ashley raise her hand, he removed his own inferno ammo modification. "Trade you."
Loading the shield disruptor rounds in, he turned to look at James who had loaded inferno rounds into his own assault rifle. John opened his mouth to ask if the man had any tech or biotic capabilities, but was interrupted by a noise in the distance that any soldier worth their salt recognized.
The sound of a gunshot caused all three marines to heft their rifles, but with no enemies in sight they lowered them somewhat.
"Let's move out people!"
Taking off at a rapid pace, the three soon round themselves rounding the rocky outlet. Spotting the dozens of white armored individuals standing next to a troop transport, John dove for cover behind a conveniently placed piece of metal cover which was a part of an incomplete set that was probably meant to be a wall at some point. Ashley ducked behind a large boulder to his left while James had fallen behind a similar metal plate on his right.
As John peeked over his cover, he saw one of the troopers raise a pistol to a kneeling man. The sharp crack of gunfire was followed by the slumping of the now dead Alliance marine.
"Holy shit!" hissed James. "They're executing them."
"How's your throwing arm Vega?" John asked while cold fury raced through his veins. He would not allow these men to walk away alive for their crimes.
"If I wasn't so sure I wanted to be a marine I would have made it big in baseball Loco."
"Alright everyone, grenades on three. Ash, you got the far left, James right and I'll pitch it down center. On three!"
As one, the three marines counted down and stood up and tossed their respective explosives. James had a standard fragmentation grenade that exploded in a dull thump, while Ashley had favored an inferno grenade instead. As the flames from the incendiary explosive washed out over the group of soldiers not killed by the frag grenade, John half expected to hear the gravelly voice of Zaeed Massani shouting his signature victorious curse.
John himself had tossed a lift grenade, a powerful experimental biotic variation that had recently been developed by the Alliance. The biotic grenade lagged behind in its detonation, but the powerful lift field ripped the flailing and burning enemy troops up off the ground leaving them dangling helplessly as they burned.
"Light'em up!" he bellowed, following his own orders with the rapid chatter from his assault rifle.
Between the three experienced soldiers, they made quick work of the enemy forces. Moving out of cover, the three soldiers carefully advanced, each person covered by the remaining two squad mates who stayed in cover until it was their turn.
As they moved up the hillly area, shouts from enemy troops could be heard. John barreled forward, ducking slightly as rifle rounds zipped past his head. Finding cover behind some stacked crates, he poked his head out of cover and caught sight of half a dozen white clad troopers holding position behind a row of crates seated before another massive troop transport.
"I count six," he calmly reported through the radio as he pulled his head back as he heard his shields pop.
A single crack from Ashley's sniper rifle echoed above the din of the volley of incoming gunfire.
"Five now skipper."
Grinning slightly at the familiar competitive tone from Ashley, he turned to search for the massive form of Lieutenant Vega.
"You got a concussive round payload Lieutenant?" he asked.
"No, but I got something better."
Nodding John eyeballed his shield meter, steadying his breath as they finally loaded. "I'll pull'em up and you knock them down."
"Hell yeah Loco, I'm game!"
Ignoring the nickname he had apparently been christened with, John popped out of cover and aimed his hand at a pair of troopers while a grabbing motion with his free hand. A familiar surge ran up his spine as his eezero nodes activated.
Dark energy wrapped around the unfortunate pair, tearing them from the ground. As they floated and cursed, a red ball of energy sped out of nowhere and collided with one of the troopers. The unfortunate unshielded man exploded into chunks, showering his fellow troopers below him in a rain of gore and entrails.
"Jesus!" one of the enemy troopers shouted.
Swallowing back a surge of bile in his throat, John concentrated again, sending a ball of biotic energy zooming out to slap into the last floating trooper. The volatile mix of two unstable biotic fields ended in an explosion that was felt deep in the gut even dozens of meters away.
The dark energy field that was created from the explosion sent the remaining four enemy troopers reeling. Exposed and out of cover, they never stood a chance.
Keeping a careful eye on his motion detector, John crept forward and turned over one of the dead troopers, frowning as he spotted the logo he was looking for.
"It's Cerberus alright," he snarled. What the hell was the Illusive Man playing at?
"How did they know about the archives on Mars?" demanded Ashley.
"There's no way a handful of troopers could have taken out the platoon stationed here," murmured James as he finally stowed his rifle, satisfied that there were no more enemy combatants.
"Yeah," said Ashley with eyes narrowed behind her visor. "They'd need an inside man to pull this off."
Feeling her gaze upon his neck, John straightened before turning to face his former squad mate with arms crossed. "If you've got something to say, then come out and say it Ash. We've been through too much together to beat around the bush."
James had the decency to walk a few steps away under the pretense of examining the Cerberus troop transport.
"Cerberus may be pro human, but they're no friend of the Alliance. I need to know whose side you're on John!"
"The side I've always been on Ash," he said tiredly as he dropped his arms. "The side trying to stop the reapers."
Ashley averted her gaze in shame. "I'm sorry John, I shouldn't be doubting you."
"No, no you shouldn't, but the rest of the galaxy never had problems doubting me, so I guess I shouldn't be expecting any different from my friend," he said bitterly as he moved towards the entryway of the facility.
It hurt that Ashley harbored doubts about his motives. Everything he had worked for had been toward the goal of preventing the reapers from winning. The council had buried their heads while Cerberus had provided funding to stop the reapers from harvesting humans. What was he supposed to do? His warnings had fallen on deaf ears, but there had been a course of action before him. Those closest to him had always believed him, and that belief had sustained him through all the doubts and disbelief. Hearing Ashley's suspicion about his motives cut deeper than any weapon ever could.
"I'm sorry commander."
He ignored her whispered apology and stalked angrily into the elevator. He didn't have the time or energy left to deal with doubters. Death was at their doorstep. People would get out of his way or be trampled underneath his heel. He'd save the galaxy even if he had to drag its people to victory kicking and screaming.
AN: bit of a fast write, sorry if there are any mistakes.
